In trying to answer a question raised by Jerry Saltz about the “death of painting,” Sarah Douglas did a little digging and uncovers some interesting facts about the upcoming Whiteny Biennial. There are only 55 works in the show. 13 of those works are paintings.

According to statistics we just got from the upcoming Whitney Biennial, paintings account for nearly a quarter of the works in the exhibition. (There are 55 works total; 13 of them are paintings.) That’s the highest percentage of works in any medium in the show; there are more paintings than there is anything else. (Film/video clocks in just below, with 12 entries.)

By comparison, the 2008 edition had 81 artists and the 2006 nearly twice the upcoming event’s number at 106. Though Douglas’s point is borne out in the comparison because in the last Biennial, only 5 of th3 81 artists were painters.

Painting Ain’t Dead (Artinfo.com)